Story+2008-03-28+Portland,+OR

“Good evening, fine citizens of Portland (crowd cheers) we´re so glad to be here in your beautiful city tonight…we´ve flown thousands of miles just to be here, all I wanna know is the answer to one question: is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers) is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers) is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers) is there anybody alive out there? (crowd cheers)…”
 * 28.03.08 Portland, OR, intro to “Night”**

“Good evening!...good evening, everybody! (crowd cheers)(?)… thank you for that lovely Northwestern (chuckles) reception…oh! ...Patti sends her best…(?) we´ve got the three teenagers now so the fort must be guarded…that´s right…I was, uh, just as I was leaving, the, uh, the pot cookies were coming out of the oven so… she´ll take care of that…she´ll take care of that whole thing, I ain´t worried about it now…and, uh, I think they sent a few over here, as a matter of fact (chuckles) be careful, man, I don´t get stoned, man, you blow too much of it this way, the show´s gonna be over (chuckles) and Danny sends his best (crowd cheers) we had Danny out with us last week for a night, that was nice, he´s, uh, he´s working real hard and, uh, he sends his love and…in the meantime we´ve got the great Charlie Giordano from the Sessions Band out here (crowd cheers) and here´s to the, uh… here´s to the end of eight years of magic tricks (crowd cheers)…”
 * 28.03.08 Portland, OR, intro to “Magic”**

“Portland! (crowd cheers) Portland! (crowd cheers) are we having fun yet? (crowd cheers) that´s good, alright…oh!...this is a song called ´Livin´ the Future´…but it´s about what´s happening now… how along with everything…that we love about the place that we come from…and we love about our home, we´ve had to add to the American picture over the past eight years things like rendition and illegal wiretapping and the rolling-back of civil liberties…you may feel that because of the color of your skin or your religion or your circumstance these things don´t have a direct impact on your life....but, man, somebody´s been fucking with my passport, I´m, I´m sure of that…I don´t know who yet, I´m gonna find out…you may think it doesn´t have a direct impact on the way that you live but…all these things are an attack on our Constitution that means they´re an attack on our very selves and our moral authority as Americans and so the mighty E Street Band is here tonight to do something about it (crowd cheers) we´re gonna sing about it… that´ll teach ´em…that´ll show ´em…we´ll see where that goes… Max, help me tell the story…”
 * 28.03.08 Portland, OR, intro to “Livin´in the Future”**

“That´s right…there is a new wind blowing right over here…”
 * 28.03.08 Portland, OR, intro to “The Promised Land”**

“Gonna pick up a few of these signs (?)…oh, yes, somebody, this is for somebody up there…the quality of the sign is very low but we don´t let that affect our decision-making processes…we treat all signs alike, whether they be in Magic Marker or a lovely color like that…so…for the guy with the cheap sign…”
 * 28.03.08 Portland, OR, intro to “For You”**

“Go for that one (?)…”
 * 28.03.08 Portland, OR, intro to “Lost in the Flood”**

“Thank you! (crowd cheers) I wanna thank you so much for coming out to our show tonight, thank you very much…we´ve been coming up here quite a while and we continue to appreciate your support (crowd cheers) oh…we´ve got a couple of friends in the hall tonight, we´ve got the folks from the Growing Gardens and the Oregon Foodbank, Growing Gardens digs at the root of hunger with the help of low income folks who grow organic food and (?) right outside their doorstep, they focus on eat-programs, make sure that kids learn to grow and eat vegetables in school and at home…the Oregon Foodbank, they work here in Oregon to eliminate the root causes of hunger through advocacy, nutrition-education, learning gardens and public education, last year the Oregon Foodbank distributed over 32 million pounds of food to those in need…these are the folks that are out there on the frontlines doing God´s work, please help the Growing Gardens and the Oregon Foodbank, you can see those folks on the way out, they need and deserve your support…and this is for all the Northwestern girls (crowd cheers) all the Northwestern girls (crowd cheers) come on, girls (crowd cheers) yes, and one from New Jersey…(music starts)…it ain´t here yet but it´s coming…”
 * 28.03.08 Portland, OR, intro to “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”**

“Thank you for coming out tonight (crowd cheers)… (…) //The blacks, the Irish, the Italians, the lesbians! the jews…” *// (…) Garry W.Tallent (crowd cheers) Little Steven (crowd cheers) Sister Soozie Tyrell (crowd cheers) the Mighty Max Weinberg (crowd cheers) Professor Roy Bittan (crowd cheers) Charlie Giordano for Dan Federici (crowd cheers) Nils Lofgren (crowd cheers) and you wish you could be like him but you can´t, Clarence ´Big Man´ Clemons (crowd cheers) Portland! (crowd cheers) Portland! (crowd cheers) Portland! (crowd cheers) Portland! (crowd cheers) Portland! (crowd cheers) you´ve just seen the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, earth-shocking, booty-quaking, love-making, Viagra-taking, history-making, legendary (crowd: ´E Street Band´)…” (*there were ladies in the pit with t-shirts saying “Lesbians [heart] Bruce.”)
 * 28.03.08 Portland, OR, intro to “American Land”**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//